On Thursday Maharashtra reported 25,883 new cases of coronavirus infections , its highest single-day count since the start of the epidemic. Its previous highest was achieved on September 11 last year, when 24,886 cases were discovered.
States like Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Tamil Nadu are all reporting very high single-day case counts for this year. This is concerning because it indicates the possibility of the country witnessing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with the infection spreading very rapidly even as an extensive vaccination drive is being undertaken. Meanwhile, other states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh have also started to show a spike in cases, with Bihar having reported over 100 new cases on Thursday. This marked the first time in one and a half months that the state reached triple digits for the number of new cases.
Unlike Maharashtra, however, none of these states, except Punjab, is anywhere close to the peaks they had logged during the first wave last year.
High numbers from several states took the national total to close to 40,000 cases Thursday, a figure that was last achieved on November 28 last year. At least 160 deaths were reported from across the country, including those that some states classified as having caused by co-morbidities.
Maharashtra has had a much sharper rise in the ongoing current wave compared to the one seen last year. Till February 9, the state had been reporting less than 3,000 cases a day. In less than 40 days, the surge has taken the state past its previous record. Last year, the state had crossed the 3,000-figure mark for the first time on June 5. It had taken more than four months to reach the September 11 peak. The decline had started immediately, thereafter, though.
There is no way to say whether Thursday’s count would serve as a new peak, especially given the manner in which coronavirus cases have been rising in Maharashtra in the last one week.
Four cities in Maharashtra — Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur and Nashik — reported numbers that were higher than that of Punjab. Pune, the worst affected district in the state, has been reporting the highest number for any city in the country for several days now. On Thursday, it found 4,973 new cases. Nagpur, which went into a week-long lockdown from Monday, reported 3,831 cases, its highest ever.
